Top Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

This I believe God has sent me an angel by the name of Ryan Edwards. Being in a family with all boys having three brothers and my father my parents thought it would be a good idea to adopt a little girl to be part of are family dominated by boys. As my mother went through the process of adoption she was told about a young five year old boy who would fit perfectly in are boy crazy home.

As my parents made their decision to adopt the young man Ryan, I was very excited and ready to be a better older brother. I say be an better older brother because I fell short in many aspects with my little brother Frankie, with being to hard on him and not being more support in everything he did, so I believe that God gave me another opportunity to be a better older brother he knew I was capable of being. When Ryan first came to live with me and my family we were warned that he was an aggressive little boy who was on medication. The first two weeks living with my family, Ryan was a regular little kid that was very quiet and a young boy who missed his mother dearly. After those two first weeks me and my family experienced a real problem child, problems such as yelling when he woke, swearing at authority figures, throwing temper tantrums and even hitting people. As many of our extended family and friends called him the Tasmanian devil because he was so bad but I beg to differ. Ryan was bad at times but what little kid isn’t bad, as people had their mind made up about what type of person he would become and who he is, I knew he was a blessing to me and others. Ryan was a blessing to me in many ways, one way was how he was only a five year child who has been taken from his mother and didn’t know his real father but still went through life without a care. Me being a blessed young adult with both of my parents I couldn’t imagine or handle what he went through as a five year old kid. As I was a senior in high school I played football and every game I would see him with my jersey on running around smiling, knowing he would scream with joy every time he heard my name called and me knowing he was my biggest fan. One great memory I have of Ryan being a blessing to me was after a game that I had lost I was walking back to the locker room with my head down depressed, a little kid with a Fairfield Prep #49 jersey came from behind me and grabbed my helmet saying ” can I wear your helmet because I want to be just like you.” With those words it boosted my morale knowing that I made a difference in a young man life that needed a positive influence. He was not only a blessing to me but to other little kids such as kids on a basketball team that he was apart of, as many friends and family thought it would be a problem he was the nicest kid on the basketball court, if fact to nice because he would get the ball and bring it over to his teammates and tell them to shoot even though he was wide open for a shot.

He was a regular little kid that appreciated small things such as “honey bunz”, his favorite snack and every time we went out he would ask me for it and would receive it if he acted good. Our bond was so strong that people couldn’t have guessed that he wasn’t my real brother, it even came to the point where people asked if he was my son.

Ryan wasn’t only just a blessing to me but he kept me balanced and showed me what life should be about and how we shouldn’t take what we have for granted also to appreciate small things. My earthly angel is no longer with me and my family but is with his real mother being a blessing to her and his little brother, with not having the ability to see Ryan due to his mother choice, I know God will send him across my path once again.

Essay of the Week

A chance encounter in a coffee shop introduced writer Rachel Richardson to a man who had many stories to tell. Ms. Richardson came to understand that everyone has a story, and our lives can be enriched by listening to the stories of others.Click here to read her essay.